Lot 41. A green-ground sancai dish, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1619). Estimate HKD 200,000 — 300,000 (22,578 - 33,867 EUR). Lot Sold 1,125,000 HKD (127,003 EUR). Photo: Sotheby's.

with shallow rounded sides rising from a tapered foot to a flared rim, the interior incised with an archaistic vase with leafy branches issuing three large peony blooms in yellow enamel, encircled by the beribbonedbabao in yellow and aubergine enamels at the cavetto, the exterior with six yellow lingzhi sprigs, all reserved on a bright green ground, the green base incised with a six-character reign mark within a double circle in yellow - 14.4 cm, 5 3/4  in.

Provenance: Collection of H.R.N. Norton (d. 1961/62). 
Sotheby’s London, 26th March 1963, lot 67 (£380). 
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1963 (£380).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1963 (£380).

Literature: Adrian Joseph, Ming Porcelains: Their Origins and Development, London, 1971, pl. 87.

Note: Two closely related dishes in the Baur collection are illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection, Geneva. Chinese Ceramics, vol. 2, Geneva, 1969, pls. A 206 and 207; two further dishes were sold in our London rooms, one from the B.Z. Seligman collection, 11th May 1954, lot 52, and the other from the collection of Wilfrid Evill, 30th November 1965, lot 32; and another dish from the collection of R.H.R. Palmer was sold at Christie’s London, 4th June 1973, lot 185. Compare also a larger Wanli mark and period dish of a similar pattern, from the Sir Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Margaret Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Polychrome Wares, London, 1978, pl. 99; another also from the R.H.R. Palmer collection, included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, London, 1957, cat. no. 208; and a third from the Grandidier collection and now in the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 77.

The motif of a vase (ping) holding peony sprays (fuguihua) imbue this piece with auspicious symbolism. The word for vase is homophonous with peace (ping’an), and when represented with the peony, the flower of wealth and rank, it forms the wishping’an fugui (‘May you have peace and prosperity’).